The music industry generates an estimated $25 billion in revenue based on royalties. With the advent of the Internet, streaming technology makes it easy for listeners to listen to almost any song of their choosing. Artists usually work with music labels to distribute media and to help collect revenue based on royalties. These music labels distribute media through a variety of different mediums, including streaming platforms or digital service providers (DSPs), such as Spotify or Apple.
Although access to songs has been facilitated by DSPs, keeping track of all songs streamed or the amount of playback of certain songs has become an increasingly difficult problem to solve. Thus, as much as 25% of the activity on streaming platforms today is unlicensed. In addition, even for the licensed activity, up to 15% of total royalties remain uncollected annually. The DSPs claim that they lack the necessary data and technology to help figure out whose claims were legitimate, or even how to locate certain parties. In addition, the lack of an authoritative database that covers all existing music rights only adds to the problem. Thus, there is a need for a reliable content identification technology that allows anyone to register, identify, and track creative works on the Internet.